Hi all. I'm going to try and post this here since no one has been able to answer it in various technical mobo forums. I realize it's a pretty technical problem, but there are a few techie members here that may be able to help.
I've been wondering for over a month now, why with the Promise controller enabled on my Asus P4C800-E Deluxe (Rev 1.02) I get thousands of errors on Memtest86 AND the Microsoft RAM diagnostics utility? I've changed video cards (nVidia & ATI), power supplies (top rated Fortron-Source FSP400-60PFN & cheap Leadman 400 watt), **MEMORY, everything and it still happens. NO PCI cards are installed. It DOES NOT matter if anything is even connected to the Promise controllers! It just has to be enabled in the BIOS and the errors are incredible. When I disable the Promise controller, no errors! Legacy USB is DISABLED in the BIOS. Overclock settings and memory settings have no effect on the errors. Whether FSB is 200mhz or 255mhz, I get the same results. Whether Turbo and PAT are on or off, I get the same results. Regardless of voltages, same results. Regardless of ANY settings, the results are the same; Promise on, thousands of errors. Promise off, no Memtest or MS RAM diag's errors. The mobo is not in a case. **Memory tried is Geil PC4000 Ultra Platinum, and some generic PC2700. ONE SLOT OR TWO SLOTS used, same thing, even switching slots with one stick. I CAN run the memory tests on my P4B533 flawlessly using both types of memory. So, there is nothing wrong with the memory, and even it was it would not explain why only errors with the Promise enabled. CPU is a retail 2.4C (that's a P4 2.4ghz with 800mhz quad-pumped bus). The HD on the Promise controller can be accessed and used fine. Since I have two chips which look like VR's (voltage regulators or FET's) marked "9115" on this mobo that are about to melt, I've been trying to get an RMA for SEVEN WEEKS now, and after that long and over 60 emails and form fill-outs the Asus site, NO REPLIES. They won't even reply to address the Promise controller memory error issue. One of these "9115" chips are next to the AGP slot, the other next to the DIMM slot closest to the outside edge of the mobo. I'm wondering if that issue and the Promise issue are related, as in a screwed up mobo. BIOS version is 1011. I am aware of v1012 & 1013 and the issues surrounding them (Asus pulled both 12 & 13 from their website). I have both 12 & 13, but of course am not going to try them for one; they were Beta, and I've heard of some fried mobo's with 13. FWIW, This mobo has the Intel ICH5R SATA controller, as well as the Promise SATA and IDE controller. I had planned on using an ATA133 HD on the Promise controller in the IDE non-RAID setting for downloaded and other backups, and I have a WD Raptor SATA drive as the main HD. This was the reason in finding a board with a "3rd IDE" connector so no devices would have to be slaved. (Conventional 2 IDE ports have CDRW and CDROM drives, ICH5R has the main Raptor SATA HD, Promise has the IDE HD backup). These are not add-in PCI cards, but integrated motherboard chip controllers just like the typical IDE chip controllers, except for being RAID capable. I might add, the ICH5R is a dedicated bus chipset, and the Promise chipset runs on the PCI bus. So........what's going on here? Is it normal to get all these memory errors with the Promise controller enabled, and if so, WHY? If anyone here should happen to have one of these mobo's, would you PUH-LEEEEZE take a few seconds and boot from the Memtest floppy or MS RAM test floppy and check the errors with the Promise controller enabled and disabled? If someone would do this, then I would know if this normal or not and if normal I could (after TWO MONTHS) finally get this SOB in the case and completed. As far as the 9115 chips, I can put heatsinks on them if there is no Promise problem. I'd also appreciate it if any P4C800-x users would touch these "9115" chips and see if they are this hot. Any input or suggestions from anyone appreciated. (BTW, all works fine when it boots into XP whether the controller is enabled or disabled, however memory error issues potentially indicate serious stability problems that must be addressed, not to mention a possibly screwy Promise chip which I'm trying to ascertain). Thank you! -Clint God Bless Us All Clint Hamilton, Owner http://OrpheusComputing.com ) ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
